Every year patients acquire catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI) in the health care setting. These infections are an issue that increase health care costs and negatively affect patient health and can also lead to death. Each health care acquired CRBSI is estimated to cost anywhere from $25,000 to $55,000 on average to treat. As of August 2008, insurance policies no longer pay the costs associated with these infections. Instead, the added costs are incurred by the health care facility or institution. Patients who acquire a CRBSI have an increased risk of death. Systems and methods for reducing infections are needed, and are required for compliance with accrediting agencies.
Proper care and maintenance of Vascular Access Devices (VAD) can reduce the incidence of CRBSI. Having medical supplies close at hand to the patient can aid clinical personnel in providing this proper care and maintenance. Two clinical tasks associated with proper care and maintenance are the cleansing of the VAD injection cap hub prior to all medication administration, and the assessment and flushing of the VAD's. Regular flushes with solutions such as saline, heparin, or other solutions can help prevent central line infections and other complications. Such flushes are important for keeping the IV lines/Vascular Access Devices (VAD) patent by proper assessment and care. FDA regulations require that saline and other solutions (typically in pre-filled syringes) must be locked unless in use; this practice is also a safety measure. But, this regulation poses a problem for busy health care providers. The pre-filled syringes are often locked up in a central area outside the patient rooms, not next to the patient or even in the same room as the patient. In addition, when a patient is taken out of their room to another department for testing, the necessary supplies for VAD assessment and care are not available. If a patient has a life threatening event in another department such as radiology, and they need IV medications immediately in the case of cardiac arrest, they have to wait until the supplies or the crash cart arrives. This increases mortality. The same problem arises with cleansing swabs used to clean the end caps of VAD devices. These swabs are often kept in a “clean stock room” outside the patient's room, or if they are stocked in the patient's room, the supply of swabs often runs out.
To reduce interruptions to patient care that would be caused by clinical staff frequently leaving the room to obtain needed medical supplies, nurses and other health care workers may carry saline flush syringes around in their pocket or they may leave one or more pre-filled syringes in a patient's room unsecured. In addition, because a convenient supply of fresh alcohol swabs for cleaning the end caps of the IV line is often not available, swabs may be re-used, or cleansing of the end caps may not be done at all, which leads to infections for patients. Such practices are violations of regulations established by groups such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
A bed-side system for infection prevention that provides convenient access to pre-filled medication syringes, alcohol swabs, and other medical supplies would improve health care for patients and help lower health care costs related to infection. A bed-side caddy that can provide secured access to regulated medicinal supplies and open access to other non-regulated supplies is not found in the prior art and would be useful in a bed-side system for infection prevention. By having the bed-side caddy with the locking compartment housing the necessary flushes, clinicians will be more compliant which in turn will create an environment of proactive patient assessment and care.